How I See It: UFC 82 Aftermath and The Middleweight Dilemna [Editorial]
By: Roger G.
So here I am, several days after UFC 82, trying to process everything that took place on Saturday night. Other than yet another dominant Anderson Silva title defense (of which I am not too surprised- I picked him over Henderson, I just hoped for a more competitive match), what long-lasting effects will the show have in the coming months in the UFC?
Here’s “How I See It”:
Point #1– The most important question to ask right off the bat, in the words of Joe Rogan, “Who’s left to challenge Anderson Silva?” As perplexing as this may seem, it’s not too difficult to find a decent possible matchup for “The Spider”, though the main event might not cause too many to salivate. First, there’s the steamrolling Yushin Okami, who should have opened some eyes last night with the most devestating stoppage of the show, KO’ing former middleweight champ Evan Tanner with an Anderson Silva-esque muay-thai knee to the head. Though it’s no secret that Okami is well known for taking most of his matches to the scorecards (4 of his last 7 have gone to decision), that may very well be what is needed to beat the champ. That, along with Okami’s natural ability to neutralize his opponent’s strengths, a solid G&P game, and ever-improving standup might be the tools needed to at least challenge Silva.
Other possible matchups in the near future for Silva include Patrick Cote, Michael Bisping, and the winner of Lutter-Franklin. Cote is coming off of two impressive TKO wins in the octagon. Although I understand that he’s 3-4 in the UFC, somehow it doesn’t matter to the matchmakers if someone is coming off a losing streak as long as his recent past looks good (i.e. Randy Couture retired after two consecutive KO losses to Chuck Liddell and came back to fight for the HW title). Michael Bisping, though controversial, did fairly well in the LHW division and is coming down to 185, possibly because of this very situation. Since he already has a name due to TUF, and has already headlined a PPV card, I could see him getting a title shot if he defeats Charles McCarthy. Lastly, the winner of Lutter-Franklin is a given. Franklin would be a first “third times’ a charm” title match I can recall, but his previous dominance in the division and the pure curiousity of the outcome of yet another rematch would be enough to draw a crowd. Lutter, on the other hand, is something of a wild-card in this whole thing. He won TUF, got the shot, blew it at the weigh-ins, and still came out and put up a heck of a fight. The question that is on alot of minds is, “What if he came to the fight in shape and properly trained?” If he beats Franklin, we may very well find out.
Point #2– What about Herring and Kongo? Where do we go from here? During this fight I was telling my buddies “Wouldn’t it be just perfect to see a Herring-Nogueira rematch in the UFC, but this time for the title?” I just thought that Herring sort of deserved it, and now I think he’s going to get it. Though this will actually be their fourth time against eachother (they fought twice in PRIDE), each time they face eachother is nothing short of a war. So that leaves Kongo. Before Tim Sylvia accepted the Nogueira fight, right after the Brandon Vera fight, he called out Kongo. This fight seems to be lining up perfectly at this point in time.
Point #3– When will Jon Fitch get a title shot? The honest answer is “I don’t know”. I think he deserves one, but at the same time I think Karo Parysian has deserved on for some time, too. “The Heat” is fighting Thiago Alves in just about a month, and if he wins that bout (which I think he will), the stars might align just right for these two to face off in a top-contender bout. That being said, we have to take into account that this is possibly the most stacked division in the UFC, with the likes of Josh Koscheck and Diego Sanchez (who both pulled of impressive wins in the undercard), the addition of Mike Swick, and a wealth of new talent coming out of the last TUF season who could easily make bumps in the road to the title for anyone.
Point #4– What about Andrei? Though I love the UFC, I think it’s pretty snotty how they treated “The Pitbull”. Yes, he’s come out of a few “sleeper” matches, but what about his opponents in those matches? One just got a title-shot, and the other went on from the losing-end of one of those lackluster matches and fought on a main-card and is now considered a top-contender. What the heck? Since Arlovski’s loss to Tim Sylvia, he’s gone 3-0. Yet he was shoved onto an undercard bout in the last fight on the contract. What does he do? He TKO’s Jake O’Brien in impressive fashion. Is this a statement to the higher power or a farewell? I don’t know. What do I think? The UFC will offer him a renewal and “The Pitbull” won’t bite.
That’s my thoughts on things after the show on Saturday. All in all it was a pretty good night of fights, and it opens up alot of opportunities for some exciting matchups in the future. Will my predictions come to pass, who knows? But that’s “HOW I SEE IT”.
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Why is it no one mentions Ricardo Almeida when they talk about the Middleweight division? He has the tools needed to beat Silva.
ANDERSON SILVA NEEDS TO MOVE UP TO 205 AND COMPETE FOR THAT BELT
Point#1-i think silva needs to try his skills at another weight class, up or down it doesn’t really matter, but he is so dominant at 185 he should establish a legacy by becoming a multi weight champion, everybody else who has done this is talked about as a legend.
Point#2-kongo was exposed by herring! put him in with noguera or any top heavyweight with a ground game & the result will be the same. herring needs 1 more win before being considered a top contender, maybe sylvia or werdum.
Point#3-i think the general feeling is that he has earned his shot at st pierre (we all know he’s gonna win) he won’t win but at least georges will get a title defense under his belt this time!
Point#4-arlovski is going. he must have pissed dana off bad to get put on the prelim card & not even getting aired on ppv after the main event! i used look forward to an arlovski fight but lately i think he’s gone in the octagon to survive rather than put on a show & bang em out like he used to.
Can’t wait for fight night 13, what a card!!!!
the count and silva would be a good fight if bisping or should i say when bisping wins his next fight let him an silva go at it, now the count is training with rampage day in and day out u can bet ur last doller he will be improveing every day, the count could be the man to prove silva is human, i think to beat silva you’ve got to brawl with the dude dont get involved in the clinch an dont take it to the ground stand up an brawl him bisping is that sorta fighter and could cause an upset,
and to all u bisping haters out there if u ant got owt intresting to say plz dont say owt because comment like ”bisping is a bum hammill beat him hes a loser” thats has nowt to do with my plan on how to beat silva!
If Bisping wins his next fight put Bisping against Henderson first. If Bisping can’t get past Henderson then he doesn’t deserve a chance at Silva. Theoretically you can send in fighter after fighter toward Silva. Eventually he’s going to get caught. I personally think Bisping only has a “puncher’s chance” if that against Silva. I think he make the same mistake others have made swinging wildly against Silva untill he picks them apart and knocks them out / down.
Isn’t there a rule saying you can’t have 3 shots at a title if it is held by the same guy, if thats the case franklin could be waiting awhile
Hey johnboy, I’m assuming your joking. Bisping is a joke…you know Hamill proved that. Bisping couldn’t even box with Hamill…and we all know how sloppy he is—and you’re talking about putting him up against the pin-point accuracy of Silva??!
Who’s left to challenge anderson silva? Maybe silva can take the liddell approach and redeem himself from his earlier losses or at least fight 2 of the last four guys that beat him, who now reside in the ufc. First Yushin Okami who won his fight with silva by dq and second ryo chonan who knocked out silva first time they met!
Bisping dont stand a chance even against Franklin for this matter. I agree with you Dale. The only possible chance for Anderson to be defeated is if he were to face off with GSP at 170lbs or move up to 205lbs. But Anderson is alot taller than GSP (6′2″ vs 5′ 10″)this wiould make it extreamlly difficult for GSP to strike with someone like Anderson. His reach would be a problem for George. If Anderson moves up in weight, then he will start to loose. Ground and pound would kill him on the ground in my opinion at 205lbs. I think he knows it because he said he would not move up but maybe fight a Boxer at the same weight class.
Point#1: I believe there are still some interesting fights at 185 for Silva. I’m sure Silva would like another shot a Okami being that he is the last person to record a win over him although it was due to disqualification. Bisping is a kickboxer so that would make for a good stand up war, but I am not sure how good The Count’s chin is though. If can Cote’ can get a couple more impressive wins under his belt, it would be interesting to see how he would do against Silva – another stand up war. Hendo gets a couple of good wins and give him another shot at Silva the way they did with Franklin. It would be interesting to see how Hendo would do in a rematch being that he did so well in that 1st round. I’d also like to see how a healthy David Terrell and/ or Martin Kamppman would do against Silva. Terrell as major well rounded skills and Martin Kamppman is a Dutch Kickboxer who is undefeated in the UFC. Both the guys have been inactive for a while though. Other than that, you would have to go outside the UFC to find a suitable challenge – Matt Linland, Dennis Kang, Frank Shamrock, and/ or Paulo Fihlo. Of course, we probably will never get to see Silva face any of these “UFC outsiders” unfortunately.
Mike,
Chonen didn’t knock Silva out. I saw the fight. It was when they were both in PRIDE. Silva was picking Chonen apart, had him dazed, went in for the kill, and somehow Chonen landed an amazing leg/foot lock on Silva out of nowhere which forced him to tap.
i think the only true test of skill for anderson is a mathup with george st. pierre. i believe that would be the fight of the year if was able to take place, granted gsp would need to jump up a weight class. the winner of that fight would be the best pound for pound fighter in my book. i do not believe anyone can stop gsp right now and anderson needs a little more competition apparently.
Nico,
I agree with you about Silva having major problems with the Ground & Pounders at 205lbs. I’m just not sure how strong he would be at that weight being that he would obviously be the smaller guy no matter who he fights. He did say he is willing to move up if the UFC wanted him to in order to make a big fight. Can you imagine if he did move up though? There are tons of great potential match ups. #1 on the list in my opinion would be Silva-vs-Liddell (two great stand up guys). Others: Silva-vs-Rampage…Silva-vs-Wand Silva….Silva-vs-Thiago Silva….Silva-vs-Shogun….Silva-vs-Houston….Silva-vs-Machida (although they are team mates). The only person at 170lbs I would like to see him face is GSP. GSP matches up well against almost anyone. Probably wouldn’t mind seeing how Fitch would do against Silva at 170lbs.
Chonan’s submission on silva was the best and out of nowhere i have seen, he was getting owned up until that point though, as on the Bisping matter lets see how he gets on at 185, he will be one of the bigger guys in this division i think he will destroy mcarthy and he should take it from there, as much as i like Bisping,me being from uk and all i still think after one fight at 185lb he still would not be nowhere near ready to fight someone of the calibre of silva, would love to see a Bisping Franklyn war in the next few years !!!!!!!!!
What do you guys think about a Franklin-vs-Henderson match up. I would love to see that one!! Others I’d love to see: Franklin-vs-Bisping…..Henderson-vs-Bisping…..Henderson-vs-Okami (two big middleweights)……Bisping-vs-Marquardt
hey dale sorry mate im not jokeing bisping has got the style to beat silva, as to hendo an bisping hendo would beat bisping via G&P but its styles that matter an bisping has the right style plus he’s english an we dont fear anybody so thats whys hes the next best fighter for silva. plus rampage is his trainin partner so for god sake give the count ago after he knocks mcarthy out!!
Well first of all i agree JAI said in #12. but i dont know about you guys but i think a good fight would be chris leben vs robbie lawler. another fight i was thinking about was a b.j penn vs roger huerta. As for anderson i dont think moving up or down would be good for him hes good were he is. as for his opponents i dont see anyone beating him inless they get a lucky shot in (Which is very possible).
i think that bisping would get destroyed by anderson and that would’nt draw that big of a crowd in my opinion.BUT…who knows.i think the fight of 08 would be after st.pierre wins his belt back either he should go up to 185 or silva should go down to 170.either way that would be a crazy fight and if st.pierre did’nt beat him then anderson might retire undefeated in the UFC.and on the franklin v.s. henderson fight,i think that would be f***** crazy.they should fight to get to see who gets the rematch.please joe silva put thet one together.
silva should drop to 170,hes fought there in the past and i think he could be the first to hold 2 belts at the same time in the UFC. silvs vs st. pierre anybody?
herring vs mir befor he gets title shot.
and arlovski is bieng treated unfairly.
In all fairness, the concept that Anderson can,”redeem himself from his earlier losses or at least fight 2 of the last four guys that beat him, who now reside in the ufc”… is a little off base.
Silva’s loss to Okami was a DQ resulting from an illegal up-kick, that actually knocked Okami silly, if not quite out. Not exactly Chuck avenging the loss to Horn (who put the Iceman to sleep with a sick arm triangle back in the day). Still, this is good opponent for Silva… a top 5 middleweight by any reasonable measure, and I think the UFC will make Okami the next opponent. However, Anderson wins this fight… he’s just better at everything (perhaps other than G&P) than Okami. Also consider, in many of Okami’s wins, his opponents talk about his strength, however, Franklin mouthed, “he’s not that strong”. Franklin fairly man-handled Okami, and, well, we know what Anderson did to Rich (twice).
Chonan, wow, there really aren’t words to do that submission justice. “Flying Scissor Heel Hook” I think is the official description?! For anyone who hasn’t seen it, do a quick search on YouTube… it is absolutely the craziest submission I’ve seen in almost 14 years of following MMA. No one can ever take that one away from Chonan… it was a thing of beauty. That said, Anderson was dominating the fight to that point, and I liken the win to my chances of knocking out Floyd Mayweather in the first round… any crazy **** can happen once, but it’s safe to say the smart money would be doubling down on Floyd the next 999 rounds. I give Chonan, based on his recent showings, less than a puncher’s chance to beat Silva.
Point #3 – Dana has already agreed to let Fitch fight the winner of GSP v Serra (article on UFC.com).
Point #stupid – Whoever thinks Bisping has a chance to beat Silva has never watched a Bisping fight. There are many 205ers who could or should come down in weight to take a chance at the belt, with all the talent in the LHW division, even those that truly deserve a title shot won’t get it for years, droping a weight class could get them a belt. Either way Bisping cannot beat Silva. I personally think, if he put his mind to it and really focused, Brandon Vera could drop to 185. He would look sick for the weigh in, but I think he would be a great matchup for Silva, and again the pain of dropping the weight might be worth being a world champion.
i’m so sick of hearing about bisping. i’ve seen every PPV he’s fought in so far. how long is it going to be before everyone realizes just how over-rated he is? he nearly got knocked out by elvis sinosic (whose record is 6-10), everyone knows he got dominated by matt hamill no matter what the judges’ scorecards were, and he looked even worse (if that’s possible) in his last fight against rashad evans! to even mention him in the same sentence as “The Spider” in an insult to silva and a disgrace. i don’t care what his record is, he’ll never be anything more than a decent sparring partner. on the other hand, who wouldn’t love to see silva move up and fight rampage or move down and fight GSP?!! these are the kind of fights silva deserves, not bisping and lutter. give me a break!
Bisping is a joke! Silva would destroy him in the same fashion that he has in his 8 previous fights in the UFC. Matt Hamill won their fight and showed that Bisping doesnt hold enough talent to hold the belt in any weight class.
Silva had expressed the interest in moving up to 205 if he won the Hendo fight. He is prime to do so. He walks around at 200lbs and would definately be a small light heavyweight. That being said he would give anyone in that weight division a run for their money. He has the ability to compete with the elite in 205, the before mentioned comment about his ability to compete with the ground and pound of that division holds no weight. He just destroyed Heno who has a excellant wrestling base and good ground and pound. He will move up to 205 and become the first fighter in UFC history to hold both the 185 and 205 belts. He is the best pound for pound fighter in the world. Period! Nobody is will beat him anytime in the near future! 205,185, or in the 170 lb weight divisions. He is the real deal and is hear to stay for some time.
Jai,
I stand corrected, Tko was what was listed in his autobiography. And its not like i think chonan could defeat him. Okami has a better shot them ryo. However a win is a win so i cant take nothin from ryo cause he got his ass beat an still pulled it off in the end! look at noguera he’s notorius for getting his ass handed to him and finding a way to win!
Hold off on the bisping talk some guys dont transition well when dropping wieght. case in mind mike swick! I think bisping will be good at 185 but you never no he could get lit up!
Bisping is a middle of the road fighter. He is well liked by fans but he will never achieve a belt in any weight class. He has been giving a pretty easy ride by the UFC and has yet to fight the elite of any division. If given the chance to fight Franklin, Okami or Henderson he would crumble.
Anderson Silva should fight Thiago Silva now that would be a fight I would pay to see.
That could happen once Thiago wins a fight against a bigger name in that division. You know if Silva moves up to 205 that he will only be paired up against the elite and Thiago just really is not there yet.
Thiago destroyed Houston Alexander who beat up on Keith Jardine who beat Chuck Liddell he is ready
You have many holes in your thought process. All the names you mentioned are up and comers. Silva beat Jackson twice in Pride and then Chuck beat Silva. ShoGun beat Jackson in Pride and Griffin Beat ShoGUn in the UFC. So acording to your thought process; Jackson would not stand a chance against Griffin.
HA HA HA YOU SHUT HIM UP
that is a bad way of thinking gary, i find the best way to match people is not on who they’ve beat or who beat them i try to go on styles of fighters that gives u a better idea mate
a lot of hate for bisping but i think you gotta see how someone shapes up at a new weight before you just condemn them. bisping wasnt a big lhw so it may suit him more at mw. we dont know till he fights. personally i think hes a good solid fighter not good enough to beat silva but maybe some other good fights at mw for him.
He has been giving a pretty easy ride by the UFC and has yet to fight the elite of any division. If given the chance to fight Franklin, Okami or Henderson he would crumble.
BUT WHO HAS BISPING FOUGHT…. DON’T WORRY I’LL WAIT…. EXACTLY NOBODIES. RASHAD AND HAMILL. NOONE AT THE TOP. HE’LL BE THROWN AROUND
MMAN WE SAID THE SAME **** AT THE SAME TIME HA HA
Great Minds!
MMAN no I am not saying Jackson wont have a chance at all. I believe the UFC needs to find Anderson Silva an opponent that can give him a fight worth paying for and I believe the best opponent right now for Anderson is Thiago.Theres been talk of Anderson moving up. Thiago is considered one of the top contenders in that weight class.
Johnboy I am just curious what style of fighter do you believe it is going to take to beat Anderson Silva.
He is an up and comer not a contender. You need to earn that with fighting the best and he clearly has not done that yet. I agree he is a force to reckoned with, but he is not currently at the top of that division.
Bisbing would not stand a chance against Anderson Silva. Johnboy I do understand style of fighters is important but Bisbing are you kidding?
Gary now you got the picture. I agree with you on that one! I really feel Silva’s next bout will be in the LHW division.
BISPING WOULD HAVE NEVER MADE IF IT WASN’T FOR THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER. HE REALLY ISN’T GOOD.
He is the next elvis Sinosic. A benchmark for the up and comers in the weight division
GSP beats Serra at UFC 83, and then has one maybe one title defence before moving up in weight to fight Silva.
i think bj penn would be a good guy to put against anderson silva
Bisping was brought in to help introduce the UFC to Britain. He is little more than a moderately talented sparing partner that has, so far, merely survived. Sinosic was brought over to fight Bisping as a crowd pleaser (Australia vs England) and clearly Elvis had him and then gave it to him. It looked pretty close to staged to me. Bisping is a bum compared to Silva.
hey gary i think the best style of fighter to beat silva is a stand up guy who is good at counter punching abit like chuck, my comment about bisping is the count will throw punches and kicks at silva and he does have the power to knock him out, as long as people dont go into the fight thinking they dont have a chance i belive silva leaves himself open when he comes forward, so if they cant avoid those big kicks and punches which is hard to do dont get me wrong he leaves his chin open to get smashed
dude silva would whoop anybodys ass who stepped into the ring with him
some people seem to think that you are either the best thing ever or total crap! there is a middle ground where you can be a good solid fighter. this is where bisping fits.people are very quick to criticize bisping but he hasnt done too much wrong in ufc you can only fight and win who they match you with and hes done that except against evans.although i thought he lost against hamill he doesnt make the decisions so it goes down as a win.new weight may suit him,may not but at least give it a chance!!!